"'Soulkiller'?" Brigitte's face changed slightly, then she actually showed a bit of fear: "Are you kidding? Is Arasaka backing you? Or..."
She suddenly thought of a possibility, her expression becoming suddenly a bit agitated: "Or is it Ultraman!? Do you know Ultraman?!"
"I do know her, but this thing I snatched from Arasaka myself... you might be lucky enough to be its first official target."
Mercer leisurely plugged the hacker chair's connection cable into the port at the back of Brigitte's head:
"Just as well, I've done experiments with a few Cleaner Fish, but I've never tried excavating that part of the consciousness and then reconstructing it... What kind of person would you like to become?"
"No! You can't!" Brigitte's breathing became rapid: "Don't tamper with my soul! You demon! Let me go! Let me go now!"
"I'm not interested in tampering with you, only in your memories, afterwards just a little scientific experimentation on your consciousness... you're sacrificing yourself for a better future for all mankind..."
Mercer laughed involuntarily at this point: "This is the company's usual claptrap, do you like it?"
"No! Please! Kill me, don't upload me!"
Brigitte said in terror, while Mercer was merely curious: "Isn't your dream to surrender to AI? I'm turning you into a consciousness body, isn't that exactly what you wanted?"
Brigitte, however, shouted in a near-breaking voice: "Don't think I don't know how Soulkiller works! After you upload my consciousness, you will be able to do whatever you want with my data form, turning my copy into your slave!
You're going to eternally enslave my soul!"
"You know quite a lot... but didn't you guys risk everything to dig the Black Wall, wanting to become AI's slaves?"
His words made Brigitte show a somewhat hideous expression, and she spoke in an almost mad tone: "You don't understand anything at all!
So long as one day, those rogue AIs will destroy the human world like an unstoppable storm, tsunami, or earthquake! We just foresaw this future!
You're a great hacker, don't you know how terrifying those rogue AIs are? When they come, humanity will only have two choices: subjugation or death, we're just trying to embrace this future in advance!
Accept reality! Even you are no exception! You've dealt with Ultraman? Then you should understand even more! How terrifying those rogue AIs are! They are the real rulers of the future world! The dominators!"
But Mercer just folded his arms in front of him, expressing no opinion: "You are as foolish as a primitive person kneeling to a shadow, it's hard to imagine that you guys are supposedly the best in hacker technology in Night City."
"So, now are you planning to save me some time, obediently telling me everything I want to know, or should I go to the trouble of digging it out from your consciousness data?" Mercer wasn't interested in discussing the future with these crazy Voodoo Gang members.
She was so afraid of rogue AIs, but in the end, isn't it still humans who want her dead? Typhoons and tsunamis destroyed the homes of Haitians, yet many Haitians still took boats to the 'New Continent'?
Even natural disasters leave a glimmer of hope, let alone AI created by humans by chance?
"... I'll talk!" Brigitte gritted her teeth unwillingly: "But you must promise not to desecrate my soul with Soulkiller anymore!"
"Easy, your consciousness data isn't all that valuable to me anyway." Mercer casually repeated the earlier question: "Did you know a rogue AI visited your Sea God server?"
"I don't know! If we knew, why would we still be painstakingly digging the Black Wall!" Brigitte showed a somewhat faith-shattering expression: "You must have seen wrong, we've never encountered any high-intelligence rogue AI!"
Mercer just nodded noncommittally: "It seems even the rogue AI despises you... Next question, how much money do you have left?"
Brigitte remained silent, but eventually could only say bitterly: "Currently, I oversee a balance of only 1,300,000 Euros."
"Great, transfer it over." Mercer sent her an account.
Brigitte hesitated — she was truly afraid of Soulkiller, but couldn't help but wonder at this moment if he really had Soulkiller?
What if she was being tricked? If given a choice, she honestly had the courage to take the money and all the secrets with her to hell.
But after much internal struggle, Brigitte still couldn't imagine the possibility of being killed by the Soulkiller Program, and could only helplessly transfer the money to Mercer.
So, Mercer asked the last question: "Do you have any valuable intelligence, data, or equipment remaining? Confess honestly and give it all to me, and I can give you a swift end."
Brigitte paused in silence, but ultimately could only say despairingly: "The valuable data is all on the Sea God server, you can check it yourself.
As for some other secrets and high-value content... we have a dedicated storage chip, just in the inner pocket of my coat."
Mercer reached out and rudely searched through her coat, indeed finding a storage chip: "And besides that?"
"Nothing more..." Brigitte said, heartbroken and hopeless.
Upon reflection, there was nothing more that needed to be done, so Mercer simply nodded: "Then you're of no more use... goodbye, doormat."